Mind Management Angela May

Conquer Email! Part 2 of 2

Keepin' it clean

This is the second part of a two-part series on managing that dreaded scourge of your sanity -- email. Part one is here.

Now that you have a clean inbox thanks to part 1, keeping it in this zen-like state is a matter of building good habits.

TURN OFF your email notification.

In Outlook, Tools > Options > Preferences Tab > Email Options > Advanced Email Options > "When New Items Arrive in My Inbox" - Uncheck EVERYTHING except maybe (maybe!!) the "Show an Envelope Icon in the notification area". The key is: No popups, no sounds. They are a distraction.

IF POSSIBLE, funnel ALL your emails to ONE inbox. Some of us have multiple inboxes, but it's best to just keep it all in the same place. It all has to be filtered and acted upon by YOU, after all!

Set only a few times per day to process email.

I like to do it in the morning, after lunch, and before the end of the day. These are the ONLY times of the day that you will check and process email. Email is a time trap, if you're checking your inbox, it should only be to flag, folderfy and delete - not answering.

During your process times, open your inbox and repeat the prioritizing process laid out in part 1: Open every email, do a quick scan, and process it in one of three ways:

1 - Delete (If you're deleting emails repeatedly, you should try to unsubscribe.)
2 - Read quickly and drag to a folder (no action required on your part)
3 - Read quickly then flag for action (if further consideration or reading is required, that's an action - flag it).

If it requires an immediate reply, or if the action or response can be taken care of very quickly, just take care of it, turn off the flag and drag it to the folder. If it's less urgent, or more work needs to be done, either just leave it flagged and see if you can answer it at one of your later passes of the day, or add the action required to your action list.  If you need to save the email for reference, either flag the email a different colour and drag to a folder or PRINT TO PDF and manage it with your other files. The goal is to have your inbox clear of flagged emails by the end of the day! (Which is a nice goal... but if you can see all your email at once without scrolling, you're doing pretty good